Monday, April 16, 2012

Welcome to Wonderland

I feel a little bit like I've stepped into Wonderland. Everything's a bit...off. I finished the edits on my book on Saturday and now I'm putting it aside for a week before doing a final read through. Now that I'm not frantically nose down in my book, I don't know quite what to do with myself. It's strange.

After finishing, I slept from 9:00pm Saturday night to 9:00am Sunday morning. This Does Not Happen to me! Since having kids, I wake early every morning. You wouldn't think sitting in front of a computer for three months would be exhausting, but let me tell you, it is!

So, what to do now. I have an entire week off. (Well, not really off. I'm still teaching. I still have 4 kids. I have an article for KY Gardener due....) But off from the book which is what I've been doing for three months straight.

You would think I'd seize this time. You'd think I'd lounge around watching favorite movies, reading great books (that part I will do!), or eating chocolate (I'll do that too!) But you know what I really want to do? Go through the book again.

I'm seized by this fear that it's not good enough. That there's some small thing I've missed. And if I don't pick it up right now, the whole thing will fall apart.

Of course it won't. In fact, I've ordered myself not to look at the book until Saturday. I'm making myself Let Go. I need to put some space between myself and the book so that when I do read it again, I can catch everything I missed last time. I need to forget a little, so that I'm surprised by my plot choices. I need to look at it like it's something new.

To fill my time, this week I'm going to write a series of posts on my editing process. I'll start tomorrow and continue through Thursday. In the meantime, since I can't sit still, I'll be mentally moving on to the next book, trying to figure out Exactly What Happens...

2 comments:

I know what you mean. I felt this when I finished my initial draft. All the wisdom/advice out there says "take 2 weeks off before editing." and I was confused. I mean...at that point, I lived for hours in the brain of my character just about as much as I did in my own. It was a difficult adjustment.

I look forward to hearing more about editing. As I like not feeling alone as I go through it. It's something people talk/write about far less than they should. Everyone focuses on the initial drafting stage.

I suggest finding something to read that is as far from your book as possible. You sound like you've got plenty of things to keep you busy though, so that's good.